I thought I was the only one . . .

Hey guys,

I had an odd experience last night. I traveled to a town about an hour south of here to visit a friend. I stopped in at his place, had some tea, and chatted with him for a while. At about ten in the evening he told me that he was going to a wedding, and he wanted me to come with him.

I've been to lots of Egyptian weddings, and I always find them a bit awkward. I usually wind up at them because I'm visiting someone and they decide to take me with them to the wedding (just like last night). But invariably once I'm there, the person who brought me runs into a long-lost relative and spends the entire evening talking to them. I usually end up wandering around, trying to find someone to talk to, and explaining what a white person is doing at the wedding.

Based on past experience, I usually try to steer clear of weddings if I can. But last night it was unavoidable. So here I am, about half an hour outside of the nearest town. As usual, my host left me to fend for myself. I was standing around trying to blend into the background when something caught my eye. You know how sometimes you see something that just doesn't look quite right? I noticed someone standing off to the right who seemed about as out of place as me. I took a closer look, and it was a white girl. Not really sure where she was from. If I had to guess I'd say maybe German or French.

It stuck me as so odd that I didn't even try to talk to her. Not that she would've been able to understand me anyway. The music was incredibly loud! Usually they turn the music up so loud that the speakers buzz and distort the music, then people get microphones and try to sing over the music. It's funny, you can actually understand the music better from about half a kilometer away than you can inside the tent :)

I thought it was kind of funny. Out on the middle of nowhere at a wedding I don't really belong at, and I run into another foreigner. Weird, huh?

Okay, that's it for now. Peace . . .